From our friends at Pyramid Ferments on Instagram - This gave us a hearty laugh!
With widespread calls to “shelter in place” and stay at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen an explosion of activity in home cooking and fermentation across our social media platforms. Fermentation, in our minds, is receiving renewed affirmation as a legitimate method for food preservation and enhancement.
In light of that, we want to share 3 methods for home fermentation that might be helpful at this time. While each of these techniques has a learning curve (particularly the last one) they are absolutely achievable at home. Our goal with this post is to give you just enough of a boost in confidence to take the first step!
Method 1: Lactic-Acid Fermentation
Some homemade kimchi - we love using gallon sized glass jars for ferments at home, but pint and quart jars work great too.
Our method for sauerkraut, kimchi, and hot-sauce, lactic-acid fermentation (or lacto-fermentation, which, by the way, has nothing to do with “lactose” and refers to the lactobacillus bacteria responsible for fermentation) is about as simple and safe as it gets. Sure, you can buy our ferments at the grocery store (or online - and we appreciate it!), but that shouldn’t stop you from fermenting all sorts of vegetables at home.
What you need: Vegetables for fermenting (we love cabbage, carrots, radishes, onions, garlic, etc); salt (any type, but pure sea salt is best); and a container (glass jars work great).
The method: Vegetable fermentation has one rule. In the words of our friends Kirsten and Christopher Shockey: “Submerge under brine and you’ll be fine.” Literally, all you need to do is keep your vegetables under salt brine, and the naturally occurring bacteria already present on the vegetables will convert starches into lactic-acid through the magical process of fermentation.
Are there more things to consider? Sure. But after fermenting literally hundreds of thousands of pounds of vegetables ourselves, and also teaching many workshops on the subject, it is helpful to not over-complicate what is in reality a very basic process. The most important thing we can say about fermenting vegetables is that it is extremely safe. Botulism, which is the primary fear that most people share when approaching sauerkraut or kimchi, is not a risk for vegetable fermentation - it only occurs in canning, not lactic-acid fermentation. Beyond that, most people worry about yeast or mold that accumulates on the surface of their ferments over time. While we understand this can be scary, it’s also a somewhat natural outcome of vegetable fermentation and not something to be worried about. If your ferment does develop any form of surface scum, you can remove it from the top of your ferment and safely eat the remainder of your vegetables. Why is it still safe to eat your vegetables if there is yeast or mold on top? Because fermentation produces enough lactic-acid to create an environment that is food safe. Once removed from the batch, any problematic microorganisms your ferment might have been exposed to will not survive the acidic environment generated through fermentation - which is part of the magic behind why lactic-acid fermentation is so effective and simple as a food preservation technique.
For more detail, check out Sandor Katz’s classic post on the subject, or see the Shockey’s website for education, including their free e-course.
Method 2: Yogurt
Making yogurt at home is simple, safe, and a great way to produce large quantities of yogurt for cheap. Yogurt, like fermented vegetables, is also a great way to produce your own naturally occurring probiotic bacteria. The process for yogurt also has a wide margin of error - there’s not much that can go wrong. Even though you might not get Chobani-thick and delicious yogurt right off the bat, the process is achievable from the start and can be dialed in over time.
What you need: Quality milk; yogurt starter (we use store-bought yogurt for this); glass jars; an incubator setup for keeping milk warm over night.
Instant Pots are great for yogurt making at home if you have one, but not necessary. Photo credit via Moorlands Eater. Check out their blog!
The method: A basic yogurt requires a few simple steps. These are more of a guideline and do not need to be followed exactly. First, heat milk to at least 180F. While not absolutely necessary, doing this will alter the structure of milk proteins and yield a thicker yogurt in the end. Once heated, cool yogurt down to an approximate 110-115F (if you don’t have a thermometer, this is hot to the touch but not too warm to burn you. If in doubt, let the milk cool more than expected. because you don’t want to kill the starter bacteria you’re about to add). Remove / skim any solids that form on the top of your milk.
Once your milk has cooled, transfer milk to glass jars and add your starter culture ( a tablespoon dollop of store-bought yogurt with live cultures in it will work just fine) directly to the jar before placing in your incubator setup for 4 to 8 hours or longer. One tip we got from local cookbook author Alana Chernila was to simply plop a spoonful directly into your containers without stirring at all. The bacteria will easily populate the entire container, and for whatever reason, Alana has found, this simple technique produces a superior yogurt.
Now for the critical step: incubate yogurt at 110-115F for 4 to 8 hours (or longer). If you don’t have a yogurt maker or more sophisticated set up, the classic method is to keep jars in the oven with the oven light on, but you can also load up a cooler with jars or pots of hot water and continually change them out over a few hours. While the suggested temperature range is fairly specific, you’ll likely have success whether or not your yogurt incubates at precisely that temperature window. Remember that people have been using yogurt as a method for milk preservation for likely thousands of years before oven lights or incubators, so the process is really quite adaptable and flexible, and we encourage you to just go for it!
More resources for yogurt available here and here. Also check out this great post on making yogurt in an Instant Pot from Moorlands Eater.
Method 3: Sourdough Starter for Bread
The final method we want to offer is sourdough, whose role as a traditional technique for leavening bread has been tremendously affirmed at a time when the coronavirus is creating yeast-shortages. Sourdough starters simply utilize naturally occurring micro-organisms to create a “starter culture” for leavening bread. Sourdough starters are typically sourced from friends or local bakeries who maintain their own starter, but it is entirely possible to make your own at home.
Basic materials: Flour, water, a glass jar.
The method: Here, we defer to our friends at King Arthur Flour, who have produced this fantastic and comprehensive guide to creating your own sourdough starter at home. Check out their post here.
Of course, the starter is just the first step, and from there it’s time to bake bread! Recognizing that bread is a vast subject beyond the scope of this post, we again point you to King Arthur Flour’s Sourdough Baking Guide. Another great resource, both for beginning a sourdough starter and for baking sourdough more generally, is the Perfect Loaf.
If you do have access to yeast and are looking for a simple shortcut for baking bread at home, check out King Arthur Flour’s No Knead Bread Recipe.
Looking for more?
Vegetable fermentation, yogurt, and sourdough are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to fermentation. If you’re hungry for more, the best resource we can recommend is Sandor Ellix Katz’s Art of Fermentation, published and sold through Chelsea Green. Sandor’s website also has great information, and don’t forget to check out our friends the Shockeys’s website for more information.
Thanks for reading, and please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or comments at info@hostahill.com
Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz is generally recognized as the “bible of fermentation.”